Hunting For Lies
by DaCow Takao
Summary: Kai's a detective, and him and his partner Rei have a new case, but the sudden appearence of Tala has Kai asking questions. Weird things are happening around them, and Kai can't find the answers for any of them. [KaixHilary] [TalaxOC]
1. Police Officer

_Hunting For Lies_

_**By; DaCow Takao**_

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* * *

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Disclaimer: I own nothing.

"blahblah blah" Talking

_"blah blahblah" _Dreaming/Thinking

_

* * *

_

_A small boy, about the age of six, walked into the kitchen of his house. The first thing he saw was on the wall opposite of him, it was his father. The man had knives in different spots all over his body, pinning him against the wall. Blood was dripping down from the different wounds, and collecting in a pool on the floor. The boy's icy blue eyes were locked on the body, and he tried to open his mouth to yell, but nothing would come out. Suddenly, his father's head, which had been hanging, a cit through the throat, lifted up, golden eyes in place of the pale grey glazed over ones the man had had only moments ago._

_The redheaded boy only caught a few words of what his father whispered, eyes widening, before he finally found control of his legs and ran out of the room, yelling for his mother._

* * *

**Michigan, 1996**

A mess of blankets, body limbs, and red hair, shot up in bed. The nineteen year old boy was panting, and he could feel his clothes were soaked with sweat. Glancing at his clock, he noted it was already 10:30 in the morning. As he went to get out of bed, he could hear loud yelling coming from the other side of the house,

"I'm leaving; I'm getting out of this hell hole, away from you and everyone else!" A young male's voice yelled, causing the redhead to wince.

The voice of an older woman rang through the house just moments after with a threatening tone, "If you leav-"

"What are you going to do, ground me? I don't get what your problem is! Why can't I just leave this pit, get out of this crappy town? No, I'm going, and not even you can stop me!"

The house went silent, before a door was slammed shut, and the sound of a motor starting up was heard. The redhead got up and left his room, heading down a hallway and into the kitchen, where he found his mother, stubbornly glaring out the window.

"Mom?"

"Drop it, Tal."

* * *

**Present Day**

"There's a new case."

A blue haired, twenty-eight year old sat up groggily in bed, cell phone to his ear," Right, I'll be there in a couple of minutes."

"Ok, see you then, Kai."

Kai shut his cell phone and set it on his nightstand, before getting up and stumbling towards his bathroom, where he popped in grey colored contacts over his crimson red eyes, the once blurry reflection of himself becoming clear. He left the bathroom a minute later, and reached for a set of clothes he had already laid out. Pulling on a pair of casual black pants, Kai reached grabbed for a dark blue, somewhat dressy, shirt, which he tucked into his pants. He finished off with a long white scarf and a black coat.

Before leaving his apartment, he made sure to grab his brief case, his cell phone, and his keys. Kai shut the front door soundly behind him, double checking to make sure it was locked, before heading down to where his car was parked. He smiled as he was greeted by the site of his '66 Chevy Impala.

"Good morning beautiful…"

Kai circled around the car for a moment, just to make sure there were no new scratches, dents, or any other kind of mark on his baby, before finally getting in. He threw his brief case into the passengers' side seat, before pulling out of his parking spot and driving threw the morning traffic.

* * *

Kai had parked his car in the parking garage next to his work, before grabbing his briefcase, and was now making his way to his work building. About half way on the walk he was greeted by a black haired, Chinese man, who had one fang like tooth hanging out of his mouth.

"Good morning."

Kai growled slightly at his partner's cheerfulness, it was disgusting to be so happy so early in the morning.

"Right…well, let's get to business-"

"Rei, wait until we get into the office."

Rei sighed, shaking his head slightly at Kai's attitude, but decided to just drop the second for a moment. As the two entered the 'Ohio State Bureau of Investigations' building, Kai glanced towards a clock at the entrance, it read that it was only 6:00 a.m., he must have stayed up too late the night before…

They went up a couple flights of stairs, before walking down a hallway and entering a room off to the left. The walls of the room were painted a plain white, with a boring painting hanging here and there. Two desks sat at opposite sides of the room, along with all the other normal 'office' objects. Kai poured some of the coffee Rei had already made into a mug he had sitting next to the machine, and took a sip of it, before setting it on his desk and sitting in the plain black chair behind the said object.

"So, what's the case?" Kai asked, as he took some papers and a couple of other things out of his brief case and placed them on his desk.

"We got a call from Springfield about an hour ago, a fifteen year old boy was found, dead, by his parents," Rei explained, as he held out a folder for Kai.

Kai took the folder, opening it up and only glancing at the words for a moment, before looking back up at Rei," Suicide?"

"No, they found him with his wind pipe crushed."

Kai raised one eyebrow," Was anybody else at home?"

"The kids an only child and his parents had stayed out late at some dinner party. That's when they came back and found him."

"Did the local police say if there was any sign of struggle or break in?"

"The front door was locked and bolted shut, and the only unlocked window was on the second story, and it doesn't have a ledge. They also said they couldn't find any sign of struggle."

Kai thought over Rei's words for a moment, letting out a short sigh," When are we leaving?"

"7:00."

"How far away is Springfield?"

"About 45 minutes away."

"So why am I here?"

Rei sweat dropped, not expecting such a question from his 'fearless leader'. Kai crossed his arms on his desk, using them as a pillow for his head.

"Wake me up at 7:00."

A sigh was heard as Rei turned out the lights in the office, and shut the door behind him as he left.

* * *

"Wake up sleeping beauty!"

Kai was stirred from his sleep by some one shaking his shoulders and speaking to him. He tried to swat away whoever it was shaking his shoulders, but the person didn't seem too effected.

"Let me sleep for just one more minute, Tal…"

Kai opened his eyes, and was met with a very confused pair of gold ones. Rubbing his eyes slightly, he frowned up at Rei, almost angry at him for waking him up.

"Who's Tal?"

"What?" Kai questioned back, straightening himself back up in his chair.

"You were talking to someone named Tal?"

"Oh…never mind then…"

The two just stared off blankly, before Rei held out a cup of coffee for his partner, who graciously accepted it. Rei let a cat like grin take over his face.

"What would you do without me?"

"Sleep."

After letting out a couple of chuckles, Kai let out a sigh," We need to get ready…"

"Correction, you need to get ready."

* * *

Kai was in the drivers' seat of Rei's Government issued car, with Rei sitting in the passengers' side seat.

"So, we get a day off tomorrow, don't we?" Kai asked, glancing over at Rei.

"Yeah, I guess, if all ends well today."

Kai let out an exasperated sigh," They never give us time off…"

"You sound like a five year old…"

"Whatever…"

Kai pulled up to a small blue house, parking at the end of the driveway, before he and Rei got out. The two went to the front door, rang the bell once, and stepped back from it a few steps.

"Hello?" A woman peeked out of her door, mid back length blond hair in a mess, and her eyes big and puffy.

Kai pulled out his badge, showing it to the blond woman," Hello ma'am, we're investigators from the SBI."

"Oh…"

Rei could tell the woman was in a bad shape," I'm sorry miss, is now a bad time?"

"Well let's see, my son just died, do you think now is a good time?"

Kai sighed," I'm very sorry about your loss, but if you want us to be able to catch whoever did this to your son, we'll need to see the crime scene and interview you and your husband."

The woman stifled a sniffle, before relentlessly opening up the front door so they could come in. She led the two into the living room, where her husband soon joined them.

"So, I take you two are Mr. and Mrs. Tate?" Rei asked, eyeing the two curiously.

"Yes we are. And may I ask who you two are, again?" Mr. Tate asked, looking the two over a bit suspiciously.

Kai pulled out his badge once more," Investigator Kai Hiwatari and Investigator Rei Kon, we're with the SBI, State Bureau of Investigators. We were called by the local police to investigate this crime."

"You two are a bit young to be in the SBI, aren't you?" Mr. Tate questioned once more.

"Thank you," Kai answered, managing to keep a serious face, when he really felt like punching the man.

The four had a stand off for a moment, before Kai finally relented.

"Well, Rei will need to ask you two some questions, while I go and check out the place where your son was killed, which is where?"

"Up the stairs, it's the second door to the right."

After Mr. Tate's short directions, Kai headed off to the bathroom. Rei had Mr. and Mrs. Tate sit on a couch opposite of him, as he pulled out a notebook and pen.

"So, he was home alone when this happened?"

Seeing as Mrs. Tate looked more like she was going to burst out in tears before answering any questions, Mr. Tate took it to be his liberty to answer.

"Yes."

"Did he have anyone else in the house that you know of?"

"No. He had been at school doing extra work, before coming straight home."

"Did he call you right after he got home?"

"No…"

"So you're not completely sure if he came directly home?"

"Max was a good kid; he always did as he was told."

"I'm sorry sir, I meant no offense..."

* * *

Kai looked around the plain bathroom that the boy had been killed in, nothing looked out the ordinary, but that meant nothing. He got out all of the necessary tools he'd need for the bathroom, and the entrances into the house.

* * *

After doing everything they needed, Rei and Kai left the house. While getting into the grey Government car, Kai let out a relieved sigh.

"I hate stuck up people like them," he commented, putting the keys in and turning the vehicle on.

"Well, Mr. Tate didn't seem too bad, but you've got to consider the only kid did just die."

"Yeah, whatever…"

Deciding not to visit the morgue Max's body was being kept in until the next day, they instead went with interviewing some of Max's friends.

* * *

"4:00., can you believe how long we stayed out?"

Rei rolled his eyes, trying for once to just ignore the complaining from his partner as they walked into their office. Setting some folders and his brief case onto his desk, Rei glanced over to a still talking Kai.

"If you're going to just complain, why don't you go home?"

Kai shook his head sadly," I'm actually going to analyze some of these finger prints, and do a couple of other things."

"Ok, just don't mess up anything," Rei stated jokingly, as he sat down at his desk and started writing in one of the folders.

"Yeah, I won't."

* * *

Kai let a triumphant smile cross his face, as he parked his car in the parking spot outside of his apartment. Even though it was now 7:32, he was finally done for the day! It was time to just sit down on the couch, watch TV, eat dinner, and just relax. Maybe he'd call H-

He stopped his thoughts, as he noticed his front door slightly ajar, someone had opened it and was inside. Slipping into stealth mode, Kai cautiously opened up the door to his apartment and entered just as cautiously, watching for anything moving. As he continued inside, he quietly shut the door behind him with his foot. Kai stuck to the walls as he headed towards his living room, though froze mid step as he felt a hand on his shoulder. Grabbing the hand, he twisted around, rendering the person's arm useless.

"Tal?"

Kai let go of the person's hand, as he stared at a redheaded man, who was about twenty-nine. The redhead drew his hand back graciously, as there was now a red mark around his wrist.

"Holy crap Kai, where'd you learn that from?"

"What are you doing here Tal? And how'd you get in here?" Kai asked, a dumbfounded look on his face.

"Aw, you didn't think your big brother could get through your security system? Oh, and I'm not Tal anymore, it's just Tala," he explained smugly.

"Tala, you're an idiot! How'd you find me, anyways?"

Tala looked thoughtful for a moment," It wasn't really too hard…Hey, before I answer all of these questions, can I please take a shower?"

* * *

Kai sat, waiting impatiently on the couch, a thing of Ramen in hand since he was dieing of hunger. While waiting, he had gotten changed into more comfortable clothing, which consisted of a random brown shirt and jeans, along with socks. Finally, Tala came out into the living room, wearing a black shirt with a buttoned down dark grey one over top, and slightly ripped jeans.

"So, Kai man, where's my dinner?" Tala asked, a smile crossing his features.

"Don't call me that."

Tala rolled his eyes," Whatever, where's the food?"

"In the kitchen," Kai slowly pronounced his words, as if talking to a five year old.

Tala quickly raised up his middle finger at his brother, before walking into said kitchen, a few minutes later he was back out, two sandwiches in hand.

"So, what do you want to know?" Tala asked, as he took a huge bite out of one of the sandwiches.

"First, how'd you find me?"

"Easy, I tracked down where you'd been using your credit card lately, and it all led to here."

Kai raised an eyebrow," Now, why are you here?"

"Simple, I'm taking time off from my job."

"Which would be?"

Tala smiled proudly," I'm a police officer at home."

Kai rolled his eyes," Oh God, please save us all…"

Tala's eye brow twitched," Any other questions?"

"No, I'll leave you alone. For now."

Before Tala had time to retort, a ringing sound filled the room. Kai pulled out his vibrating cell phone from his pants' pocket, and pressed the talk button.

"Hello? Oh, hey Hil! Um, I didn't have time…"

Kai winced, holding the phone a few inches away from his ear, as the woman on the other side yelled loudly. Tala raised a curious eye brow, but the glare Kai was sending him suggested to keep his mouth shut.

"No, no, Hil! You see, I had a…unsuspected visitor, but if you want, you can come over? We could watch a movie or something…" Kai tried to calm the other person down, speaking in a soothing voice.

After hanging up the phone, Tala stared questioningly at his little brother," Who was that?"

"My girlfriend, she'll be over in a couple of minutes…"

* * *

Just as Kai had said, a few minutes later, the door bell ring. Kai hurried to get it, opening up the door and leaning down to give his girlfriend a quick peck on the lips. Tala watched as Kai stepped out of the way, letting a slim, brunette girl inside the apartment. She was wearing tight jeans, black boots, a red halter top, and a black jacket.

"Yo, Kai, is this your visitor?"

"Yeah, this is my brother-" Kai began to explain, before Tala quickly walked over to the brunette, staring at her intently.

"I'm shrimps older brother, Tala," All the while he was speaking; he kept a charming smile on his face.

She didn't seem too impressed though," Right… Well, I'm Hilary, and happen to be very in love with your brother, so back off."

"Ouch…" Tala put on a hurtful face, before turning back to Kai," So what are we going to do?"

"Go to the bar!" Hilary quickly exclaimed.

Tala turned to stare at the brunette, a grin replacing his intent look," I like the way you think!"

* * *

**A/N: **Hey y'all, hope you find this story suitable! It might be a bit confusing, and probably a bit rushed sounding, but hopefully everything will be straightened out later. Now, I'm very sorry to any of those who don't appreciate Tala and Kai being related, but I preffed having them related, instead of making up someone. Now, please let me know what you think of this story, for it was just a sudden idea I had, and I wanted to test it out!

Thank you!

**_- DaCow Takao_**


	2. She's Fine

_Hunting For Lies_

_**By; DaCow Takao**_

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* * *

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Disclaimer: I own nothing.

"blahblah blah" Talking

_"blah blahblah" _Dreaming/Thinking

* * *

Hilary, Kai, and Tala stepped into a dimly lit bar, Tala immediately going off to a group of women. Kai and Hilary pushed their way through the large mass of bodies in the building, going up to the bar, where a bar maid soon addressed them. After getting two beers, they headed off to a small table, sitting down on the stools next to it.

The only words picked up as Tala hit on the group of women he had were," Hello ladies! You're all looking fine tonight, if I might say so myself!" A charming smile added in, and all were swooning over him.

"So, why's you're brother here, again?" Hilary asked, as she watched the redhead with disgust.

"I don't know exactly, he just said he was taking time off from his police work and decided to come visit me."

Hilary let out a disbelieving chuckle," He's a cop? And I thought you hadn't touched base with you family for ten years?"

Kai shook his head, taking a quick swig of his drink," I didn't actually believe him at first myself, but as long as he's not just sitting at home doing nothing, I guess it's not that bad. And yeah, I haven't talked to them in a while, but I don't really blame Tala for wanting to get away for a while…"

"If I were you, I'd want to get away from him," Hilary commented, watching as a girl slapped Tala on the face and stomped off, the redhead calling after her.

"Tal's the only one I can stand in my family…"

"Whoa, I'd hate to meet the rest of your family then," Hilary stated, finishing off her beer.

A sobbing Tala slowly made his way over to them," hey Hil, you got any friends that might want to come down here?"

"I guess…"

* * *

"Dude, your friend was hot!" Tala exclaimed, as he and the other two stepped back into Kai's apartment 

Hilary scoffed," First off, don't call me dude. Second, keep on talking about Mariah that way, and you'll find you're leg broken before you could dial 911."

Tala slowly backed away from Hilary, hiding behind Kai. The bluenette rolled his eyes at his brother's stupidity, mumbling something along the line of 'wuss'.

"What did you call me?" A rather shocked Tala asked, hand over his heart in a hurt manner.

"You know what you are, now shut up," Kai commanded, brushing his brother aside.

"You- Oh my God, my show is on!" Tala exclaimed, rushing passed Hilary and Kai, jumping onto the couch in the living room, and turning on the television set.

Hilary rolled her eyes," How old is he, three?"

"Actually, twenty-nine."

"What's the world coming to?"

The two both laughed softly, slipping into the kitchen, passed the now brainwashed looking Tala.

* * *

Hilary had to leave an hour later, since she had to get up early the next morning to go to work. Kai had grabbed his briefcase from next to the door, and sat down on the opposite side of the couch Tala was on. The said redhead still had his eyes glued on the TV in a trance like way, and Kai could almost picture drool slowly falling from his mouth. What a dog.

* * *

Hilary shut the door behind her as she entered her apartment, making sure to lock it. She threw her purse on the small table near the door, before proceeding to check her messages on her answering machine. All she found was a message Kai had left for her, and one telling her she'd work full time the next day. 

"Great…" She mumbled, taking her jacket off and throwing it on her couch.

Hilary grabbed a quick snack, before deciding she should just relax for a little bit. Stepping into her bathroom, she turned on the faucet to the bathtub and waited until it was at the right temperature and level, before undressing and getting in. Taking a deep, relaxing sigh, she let herself sink a little farther into the water, her face just above the water. Soaking up the soothing essence of the water, she lifted herself up a bit more as she grabbed a wash cloth, but stopped mid-grab as she noticed something glint in the water. Something was hovering just mere inches from her, a pair of golden eyes behind the object. Gasping as she realized what the object was, she let out a short scream, before the knife made contact with her skin.

Glazed over eyes stared lifelessly at the ceiling, soft choking sounds coming as blood poured from her neck into the water of her tub.

* * *

Kai woke up to the sound of his alarm clock going off. He got up to do his normal morning routine, at least when he wasn't woken up early due to a new case, it consisted of taking a shower, getting dressed, calling Hilary, and having breakfast, before leaving for work. After getting the first two things done, he walked out into the living room to take care of the third, calling Hilary. After grabbing his cell phone off of the coffee table, he stared disbelievingly at his older brother's sprawled out body, which had obviously fallen off the couch. Sticking a socked foot out, he softly poked his brother in the side, before doing it a bit harder. 

"Wake up, Tally!" Kai cooed, as his poke turned more into a kick.

Tala only grunted a reply, putting his arms up in defense of his head, before turning to the side away from his brother.

"C'mon Tal, get up!"

"Fine, fine, give me a couple more minutes," Tala groggily replied, pulling the small blanket Kai had given him over his head.

"Whatever."

Kai just shook his head disapprovingly, before flipping open his Razor cell phone, and pressing the number for Hilary. After waiting a couple of minutes, Kai scrunch up his face in concentration, as he dialed the number once more. Why wasn't she picking up?

"Odd…" Kai mumbled, as he sat down at his small kitchen table, bowl of cereal in hand.

"What?" Tala questioned, as he slowly made his way into the room.

"Hilary isn't answering her phone," Kai stated, pocketing the phone.

Tala let out a loud yawn," Didn't she say she had to get up early for work, or something?"

"I know, but I've just got this feeling in the pit of my stomach that's seriously bothering me."

Tala raised a questioning eye brow, he would never get couples like his brother and Hilary," Right, well, I'm hungry, where's the food?"

"Cereal's in the cupboard."

"Aren't we a kind host?" Tala taunted, as he went to where his brother had directed.

"Shut up."

* * *

Kai and Tala walked into the SBI building, Kai having decided it would be a bad idea to leave his brother behind at his house alone, since he would eventually get bored, and Tala and being bored just didn't mix. Heading up to Kai's office, the two were met by an ever cheerful Rei. 

"Hello Kai! Who's your friend?" Rei asked, flashing the two his signature grin, one fang like tooth hanging out.

"This is Tala, my brother," Kai informed, as he motioned for Tala to sit down in a chair to the side of his desk.

"Oh, nice to meet you Tala, I'm Rei!" He greeted, sticking a hand out for the redhead to shake.

Tala stared up at Rei, tilting his head to the side a bit as he noticed Rei's golden cat like eyes, they looked so familiar… Shaking the thought off, he put his hand out and shook Rei's hand, putting on a smile.

Kai cleared his throat," Well, we've got to be off to the Springfield City Morgue."

* * *

Rei was driving his car, for once, while Kai sat in the seat next to him, and Tala was stuck in the back, building a pyramid out of empty bottles and cans. They soon pulled up to a building, a sign in the front reading," Springfield Morgue", in big, gold letters. The three got out of the car, walking into the morgue. The walls were painted a pale blue, and a wrinkly, old woman sat behind the front desk. 

"Hello ma'am, we're here to find out about a Max Tate," Kai informed, him and Rei pulling out their badges for her to see.

"One moment," The woman replied grimly, standing up and disappearing behind a closed door to the rear of the room.

The woman came back a moment later, followed by a man who seemed to be just a bit younger then herself. The man looked the three over, as the woman typed into the computer.

"Hello, I'm Mr. Hanes; please follow me into the back."

Tala cracked a smile as Mr. Hanes turned around, he leaned over towards Kai," I wonder if he could hook me up with some free underwear?"

Kai pushed his older brother away from him," Idiot, you're thinking of Fruit of the Loom, not Hanes."

"Oh," Tala had a look of confusion on his face, causing Kai to roll his eyes.

The two looked, and found that Rei and Mr. Hanes had already gone into the back room, and they quickly hurried after them. Coming into a small room, they saw Mr. Hanes handing Rei a folder, stuff about Max's body in it.

As Rei and Kai looked through the folder, Tala shifted uncomfortably under the hawk like stare coming from the solemn Mr. Hanes," Has anyone ever told you you've got a smile that brightens up a room?" A/N:_Line borrowed, I do not own_

"Hn."

As Tala and Mr. Hanes had a staring competition, Tala losing badly as the man seemed to never blink, Kai looked up from the folder he and Rei had been looking at.

"They found traces of sulfur on his neck?" He questioned, a confused look on his face.

Mr. Hanes nodded," Yes."

Kai looked thoughtful for a moment, before seemingly pushing whatever he had been thinking about away. Him and Rei looked through the folder a bit more, before the three left, going out to Rei's car.

"Hey, would we be able to go check out the house this kid was killed in, real quick?" Tala questioned, as he got back into the backseat.

Kai sighed," Well, I do need to go check on something there…"

Tala smiled triumphantly, as Rei started driving towards the Tate house, Kai still a bit uneasy.

* * *

The three got out of Rei's car, going into the SBI building. They had gone to the Tate's house for about half an hour, before heading back to Columbus. Once in the building, Tala hurried off to the vending machines, still hungry even after they had stopped and had some lunch. Kai went to the testing labs, muttering something about stuff to do. 

"Stupid vending machines..." Tala mumbled, kicking the said machine trying to get the bag of chips he had chosen to fall from where it was stuck.

"I hate it when my food gets stuck in that vending machine, one of the reasons I never use it."

Tala's eyes widened at the sudden voice behind him, and he could feel his heart beating rapidly. He quickly calmed down as he turned to find a smiling Rei," Dude, don't do that! You about gave me a heart attack…"

"Sorry. So, you say you're a police officer?" Rei questioned, tilting his head to the side a bit.

"Yep," Tala answered, raising an eyebrow, wondering why Rei wanted to know.

"Where'd you do training at?"

"My home town."

"That would be?"

Tala rolled his eyes, he hated people who thought they could just interrogate whoever they wanted," Why ask?"

"Just wondering," Rei simply answered, shrugging.

Tala let out a short sigh," Right… So, where are you from?"

"Atlanta, Georgia."

"Really? I once went to a concert there!"

"I'm sure you did…"

Tala looked around the room, an uncomfortable silence settling around the two of them.

"Well, I'm sure you're busy, so I'll let you work. I'll just go read a magazine or something while I wait for Kai-man…" Tala informed, before heading towards the front room.

* * *

"Wake up Tala!" 

Tala let out a short snout, opening his eyes to find Kai only mere inches away from his face. Kicking his brother back some, he stood up and stretched.

"Dude, what time is it?" Tala questioned, as he rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand.

"About 10:00, hurry up!" Kai answered frantically, hurrying out of the SBI building, Tala following closely behind.

"What's the big hurry for?"

"I called Hilary's work, and they said that she never showed up today! Something is really wrong, I can just sense it. We're going over to her house, now," Kai explained, as he threw open the door to the Impala and got in.

"Whoa, slow down Kai, and take a deep breath," Tala warned, doing an up and down motion with his hands as he took in a deep breath, then let it out.

Kai rolled his eyes," I won't slow down, because you know what? Something's happened to my girlfriend!"

"No need to yell, Kai-man-"

"Tal, just shut up!"

The said redhead let out a frustrated sigh, before turning to look out the window as Kai sped off towards the part of town Hilary lived in. Once there, the two got out of the car, Kai leading the way to her apartment. Once at the door, Kai knocked on it a few times, before he started searching his pockets for the extra set of keys Hilary had given to him, while in the mean time Tala stood, idly watching his little brother.

"I can't find the keys!"

Tala raised an eyebrow, before pulling a bobby pin out of his pocket," Say the magic word."

"What?"

"Never mind…" Tala muttered, using the bobby pin to unlock the door.

Kai stared at the opened door with astonishment, before turning to his brother," Do I want to know where you learned how to do that?"

"Probably not…"

Kai rolled his eyes, before focusing on the task before him. The two called out Hilary's name, as Tala went off in the direction of the kitchen, of course ever wanting to find Hilary, and not thinking of the bag of chips stuck in the vending machine he wasn't able to eat. As Kai walked towards the back of the apartment, he saw the bathroom door shut, light shining underneath it.

"Hey Hil, I came to check on you since you hadn't answered your phone or anything. I think my brothers raiding your fridge, so I hope you don't mind," Kai spoke as he stood next to the door.

When he heard no reply, nor any noise, he slowly opened the bathroom door. Kai nearly threw up at the smell emitting from the room, and actually did as he caught sight of his girlfriend. Before he could run and get Tala, he became fixated on Hilary, as she turned to look at him, light brown eyes replaced with golden cat like ones. Her mouth opened as she started to say something to him.

* * *

Tala sighed as he looked through the cupboards, having not found anything fitting to eat. He forgot about his hunger as he heard a short cry come from the back of the apartment, taking off in the direction of the noise. He came upon the scene of Kai on his knees, holding his head in his hands, as he stared with wide eyes at Hilary's dead body, which was in a tub full of blood. There were tears streaming down Kai's cheeks also, Tala tried to pull his brother up to his feet, but the bluenette fought against him. 

"Stop! She's trying to say something to me!" Kai managed to get out, as he broke free of his brother's grasp.

Tala looked from his little brother, to the body of Hilary, which was staring up at the ceiling blankly. Not bothering to try and figure out what exactly was going on; he got Kai before he tried to hold Hilary's hand, dragging him out of the room and into the hall way, putting himself in the way of the bathroom door.

* * *

Tala glanced sideways from where he sat at the driver's seat of the Impala; his brother was staring blankly out the front window, tears no longer falling out of his eyes. The redhead let out an exasperated sigh, before returning to stare at the road in front of him as he made his way back to Kai's apartment. When they got there, he got out of the car, Kai following suite, and they headed back to the apartment. Once inside the house, Tala headed straight towards where he had his clothes thrown out all over the place, and started to pack it all up in his bag. 

"What are you doing?" Kai asked, a far-off sound to his voice.

"I'm leaving. You'll need to call the police once I'm gone so they can go to Hilary's house," Tala simply replied, as he zipped up the duffel bag holding his clothes.

"Why are you leaving?"

"Because, my fingerprints are on the door to Hilary's apartment, plus inside, I've got to get out of here."

"Didn't you one time say that when you found dad's body, he had golden eyes?"

Tala froze, dropping the duffel bag he had been in the middle of picking up. He turned back to his brother, his eyes a mixture of emotions as the memories came flooding back.

"When did I ever tell you that?"

"You were nine, I was eight, and we had stayed up late. That's when you told me about the golden eyes…"

Tala pushed back the memories, along with all of his emotions," Why do you bring it up now?"

"Hilary… she turned to me, she had golden eyes…"

"Did she say anything to you?"

Kai shook his head," No…"

"You should probably pack up a bag of clothes, you can come back home for a while."

Kai finally snapped out of his trance like state, and stared at Tala with confusion," Why?"

"There are some things me and mom need to tell you."

"Mom? What does she need to tell me?" Kai's voice suddenly was full of venom, just thinking of the woman made his blood boil.

"Just shut up and pack your bag, I'll call the police on your home phone-"

There was a sudden knock on the door, Kai and Tala both turning to look in the direction of the object. Kai walked over from where he had been standing and opened the door a bit, surprised to find Rei standing before him.

"Yeah?"

"Where's your brother?"

"Why?"

"Because I recently looked him up, and there's nothing saying that Tala's ever gone to police training, thus he is impersonating a government official."

"Um, one second, let me get him…."

Kai shut the door on Rei's face, quietly locking it. He hurried over to where his brother stood, staring wide eyed at the closed door.

"What should we do?" Kai asked, looking to Tala expectantly.

"Quickly grab some clothes, and we've got to escape some how…"

"I know how."

Kai rushed into his room, grabbed a bundle of clothes, threw them in a bag, then went into his bathroom.

"Kai, this isn't time to be going to the bathroom!"

"Shut up and get in here!"

Tala raised an eyebrow, and nearly jumped a she heard Rei yelling from outside the door. He rushed into the bathroom, to find Kai standing before an opened window.

"What kind of an apartment has a bathroom with a window?"

Kai rolled his eyes," Just go!"

Tala threw his duffel bag out the window, before jumping out himself, Kai and his bag following shortly after. Managing to get to Kai's car without being seen, they threw their stuff into the back seat. Kai jumped into the driver's seat, and Tala did the same a she quickly got into the passenger's side seat. They quickly pulled out of their spot, and drove off.

As they got out onto the highway, Kai turned his attention away from the road for a moment," How far away is home?"

"You sure you want to do this?"

"I've got no choice now."

"A couple hundred miles, should take us about six hours if we don't stop for gas."

Kai raised an eyebrow," Then we'll need to speed things up," he pressed down harder on the gas pedal, the Impala's headlights disappearing from the sight of Columbus.

**TBC...**

* * *

**A/N:** Hope the chapter didn't sound too rushed! Also, sorry for the wait, I'm too lazy to keep focused on something too long, so thus it takes me a while to update. I actually enjoyed writing this chapter, a bit sick, but it's true. It's probably because of all the emotion put into it... Anyways, I would like to thank all of the reviewers! I'll have chapter three up eventually...

**_- DaCow Takao_**


	3. It'll Be Easy

_Hunting For Lies_

**_By; DaCow Takao_**

**_

* * *

_**

"blahblahblah"- Talking

_"blahblahblah"- _Dreaming/Thinking

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing.

**Thank You; TK, sky d, Nubia, WalkingDeathWish, SonjaV, Lazy but Smart, and aNiMeFReaK for reviewing!**

**Nubia; **Well, I'm glad I kept it suspenseful. xD;; Oh, I most definatly did not intend to refer to Tala as 'she', thank you for telling me about that! Ha, maybe it's just a coincidence though? You know, you see golden eyed people all the time! Anyways, thanks for reviewing! And I'm glad you liked the chapter!

* * *

The gear shift was put into park, before the keys to the Impala were turned, and the motor of the car stopped. Kai and Tala sat in their seats, the latter waiting for his younger brother to get out of the car. Neither had time to make the first move, for a woman in her mid 40's came outside, loaded shot gun in hand. Even as she realized who was in the car, the shot gun still hung cautiously in her hand as she came up next to the side of the car closest to Tala.

"What's he doing back?" She asked as the window was rolled down; glare being shot in the direction of Kai.

"Mom, please, just this once can you two get along?" Tala pleaded, a tired look creeping onto his face.

The woman raised one light brown eyebrow, before relentlessly turning around and motioning for them to follow her into the house. Tala grabbed his stuff out of the back seat, as did Kai, who silently followed his older brother back inside his old house. They threw their stuff in a small pile on the floor of a neatly kept living room, game systems and movies tucked away inside a large cabinet next to a TV. Moving into the next room, they sat their selves down at the table in the middle of the kitchen they had entered.

"So, the big city not all it was made out to be?" the brunette questioned, placing two cups of coffee on the table for the two.

Kai let out a small snort, looking at the coffee to make sure there was no sign of spit, "No, Tal talked me into coming back for a little bit."

"Well, don't know if White Cloud will add up too much, now that you've seen everything, but I'm sure some people will be glad to see you. And boy, what did you do with your hair?"

Kai scoffed," Well, Grace, I went to the store and bought hair dye. It's a wonder what they sell now a days, isn't it?"

Grace glared at him," First, you don't talk to your mother in that tone of voice, second, the color's hideous, it's not natural looking."

Kai rolled his eyes, before turning to Tala with a desperate need for help. Tala shrugged, before turning back to his mother," Hey mom, I also brought him back for another reason."

"What's that?"

"We need to tell him."

"About what?"

"You know what!"

Kai rolled his eyes," Oh God, Tala, you're not pregnant or anything, are you?"

The redhead turned to glare at his brother," No."

"So then, what do I 'need to be told about'?" Kai questioned, irritation clearly written on his face.

"Me and mom started a new job while you've been away," Kai nodded for Tala to continue as his redheaded brother paused for a moment to take a calming deep breath, "I guess you could say we 'hunt' for a living, along with side jobs here and there." Kai still stared questioningly at his brother, who had to look to Grace for a moment before continuing, "The things we hunt are…. 'supernatural beings', so to say…"

Kai's impatient frown turned into a large grin, and he was soon bursting with laughter. Wiping a few tears away from his eyes, he looked up at his mother and brother, both deadpan. "Wait, you two aren't joking, are you?"

Grace glared at her son, "No, we're not."

Kai let out a soft chuckle," I thought you two were crazy before, but this? This, I have to say beats out the rest of your crazy ideas," he spoke as if it all were still just a big joke, and was expecting Tala and his mother to start laughing at any moment," Ok, well once you two get out of your fantasy world, you can reach me in my room."

"Wait, Kai! Please?" Tala called, as his little brother turned to walk out of the room.

"No! You're both crazy, Tal! I'm not going to stand here and just listen to you go on about this kind of crap!"

"Come on Kai! If there's just an inch of a chance that you believe there might possibly be such things as ghosts and demons will you just hear us out?" Tala begged, a pleading look in his eyes.

Kai let out an exasperated sigh, before taking a seat back at the table," This better not be a waste of my time."

* * *

Kai and Tala stood outside of the Impala once more, the redhead shutting the trunk, having loaded things inside of it. 

"Remind me again what we're doing?" Kai questioned, staring at Tala with raised eyebrows.

"I already explained to you, I'm taking you on a job with me so I can prove to you that this kind of stuff exists!"

"And what did you just put into my car?"

"A box of weapons, ammunition for the weapons of different kinds, various forms of protection such as salt, and snacks for when I get hungry," Tala stated matter-of-factly.

Kai rolled his eyes," All you ever think about is your stomach… Oh, and let me guess, you don't have a license to use, let alone own, these weapons, do you?"

Tala thought for a moment," Um… I'll get back to you on that…"

Kai sighed, before the two got into his car," So where are we off to?"

"Some town on Lake Superior."

"What? Dude, you better be supplying me with a real job when we get back if you want me to spend money on the gas these trips will use up," Kai growled, glaring at his brother.

"Of course, of course! There's always need for help in our home town!"

"Whatever…"

* * *

Pulling up to a small cottage like home, Kai glanced towards the shore of Lake Superior behind it some distance. The two got out of the car, Tala grabbing a bag with fake reporter badges, a few clipboards, and some other random objects. 

"Remember, just let me do the talking," Tala ordered, as he handed Kai his badge.

"This can't be legal…"

"It's not, so shut up," Tala prayed his brother wouldn't give them away as the two stepped up onto the door step and knocked on the door.

Kai took a deep breath, before putting on an emotionless face. The door of the cottage opened to reveal a teenaged girl, her messy blue hair pulled back into a quick pony tail, and her light grey eyes had a tinge of red to them, as if she had been crying.

"Yes?"

"Hello, we're here with the local newspaper, we were wondering if we might be able to interview you about what happened last night?" Tala spoke in a professional way, flashing the girl one of his winning smiles.

The girl thought it over for a moment, before opening the door wide enough for the two to come in. Kai figured the girl was either really upset, or just really comfortable in her own home with strangers around, as he noticed she was still just in a tight white sleeping shirt and black pajama pants. The three got seated in her living room, Tala feeling at home right away as he noticed various game systems connected to the large screened TV.

The redhead fought back the urge to just play the games, and brought out one of the clipboards," So, shall we start with your name?"

"Sonja Vejnoska."

Tala blinked for a moment," How would you spell that?"

Kai elbowed his brother in the ribs, as the Sonja girl took the clipboard and wrote her last name down herself.

"Anyways, could you please tell us what happened?"

Sonja took a deep breath," I don't really remember too much except for that me and my boyfriend Bryan had been dared to walk this part of the beach that was said to be 'haunted'. Well, while we were messing around, waiting for it to be 1:00, the time our other friends had set for us to come back, we saw someone with a lantern making their way towards us. Since we had no where to hide, we just waited for the person to come to us, and the next thing I knew, this headless dude was swinging at us with some knife!"

"Ok, and he ended up getting this boyfriend of yours on the leg, correct?" Tala asked, as he continued writing everything down.

Kai, who had been staring at the floor the whole time, looked up at Sonja," You say the man was headless?"

"I'm sure of it! Everyone else keeps on telling me it was probably just because it was dark outside, but I swear that guy had no head!"

Kai nodded slowly," Right…"

"Anyways, now Bryan's in the hospital because the knife hit some certain part of his leg or something…"

Tala frowned, putting a consoling hand on her shoulder," I'm sure the authorities will find out who hurt him."

With that, Tala got a few other bits of information and him and Kai left. Kai had been quiet the whole time, well other then asking Sonja the question, and he still was even as he backed away from the home.

"Well, we're going to need to go to the local library now," Tala stated, trying to get his brother out of his trance like state.

Kai nodded in response, before driving off in the direction Tala told him.

* * *

The two brothers were now sitting idly in a motel room, Kai lounging on one of the two beds, while Tala leafed through a book he had pulled out of the bag they had brought with them. Kai hadn't bothered to ask his brother about the book, as he had enough on his mind, and didn't want to worry about whatever crap the redhead was reading. 

"So, you say some decapitated guy is running around trying to chop people up?" Kai questioned, not having much luck with figuring out any of the information Tala had briefed him on in the car.

Tala sighed, shutting the book in his hands," From what I read at the library, I think it's the spirit of Pat Simons who used to live right next to the part of the beach where all of this stuff has been happening." He then pulled out an old newspaper," Apparently some time ago, these two guys were smuggling in illegal weapons, and were using the part of the beach behind Pat's house as their 'loading dock'. Pat woke up one night and heard noise coming from where they were unloading, grabbed his lantern and went out to investigate. I guess in all the rush when Pat found the dudes one ended up chopping off Pat's head, they sped off in their boat, and were never found."

Kai raised an eyebrow," Then why's he still haunting the place?"

"Probably just a restless spirit, there's an easy way to take care of him," Tala stated with a shrug," But until then, you get four hours of sleep before we go out to take care of him."

Kai shook his head," This is crazy, but whatever."

The light in the room was soon turned off, after Tala put all of his stuff away and both men were in their respectful beds.

* * *

A bright light woke up Kai, and once after opening his eyes, he realized it was coming from a flashlight Tala had pointed directly at him. 

"What are you doing? You b-"

"Shut up and get ready! I was nice and let you sleep in for an extra hour, so we don't have as much time!" Tala commanded, turning off the flashlight so Kai could see once more.

"More like you slept in an hour late..." Kai grumbled, rubbing his eyes as he stood up off the bed.

Tala smiled," You caught me. Now, hurry up!"

"Shut up, I heard you the first time!"

"Gawd, why do you have to be such a jerk?"

"Why do you have to be such a bitch?"

Tala decided to just leave the conversation at that, and instead scurried off to prepare for their 'mission'.

* * *

"Why is it I find myself questioning your sanity continuously?" 

Tala smirked as his little brother asked the question. The two were walking through an old graveyard, the only thing lighting their path was the faint light of the Impala's head lights, and the flashlight in the redhead's hand. Kai had a sort of disgusted look on his face, while Tala seemed oddly comfortable.

Stopping in front of a gravestone, Tala smiled victoriously," Well, this is it. If you start digging, by the time we get down to the coffin, the ghost of Pat Simon should be here, and I'll already have the salt, lighter fluid, and match ready."

Kai frowned," I thought you said this would be easy? And why do I have to dig?"

"'Cause little bro, you're a bit on the wimpy side, you need to toughen up. Now start digging," Tala handed Kai a shovel, a smug expression clearly visible.

Kai rolled his eyes, purposely throwing the first shovel full of dirt on the redhead. As the dual haired bluenette continued with digging up the grave, Tala started making a circle of salt around the area, leaving just enough space for a person to walk through. Once Kai had finished with his digging job, which surprisingly only took about forty-five minutes, Tala hurried to dump lighter fluid on the coffin, before the light howling of wind made the presence of another being known. The figure of a headless man made its way through the gap of non-salted grass, and was holding his lantern out in front of him, a large knife in his other hand.

"Hey, I'm supposed to be able to see through him, aren't I?" Kai questioned, as he watched the spirit grow closer.

Tala guessed by the calmness in Kai's voice that his brother still didn't believe that the ghost in front of them was real," Of course you can't see through him, that only happens in movies. Now a couple of things you will notice is that the wind will pick up when a ghost is around, the temperature will drop, and the spirit tends to disappear for a couple of seconds before showing up in a different spot, kind of like they walk a few steps without us being able to see them do so."

Kai raised an eyebrow, and was about to say something cocky in response, when he suddenly felt cold air nipping at his ears as the limbs of trees swayed from wind knocking against them. He tried to keep his eyes on the figure growing closer to them, but every few times he'd blink, the headless man would be gone, and then come back once more after he blinked again," Ok, so maybe you are right…"

"Told you, now hurry up and get behind the grave, I'll go finish the salt circle while you distract him."

Kai nodded once, before doing as his older brother directed. For some reason he felt not even a bit nervous as the ghost crept closer and closer, maybe it was due to his trust in his brother, or he was just plain stupid, but something told him deep in the pit of his stomach there was nothing to worry about. The decapitated man was now inches from him, the only thing in the way was his own grave. Just as Pat Simon's spirit was going to reach out with his knife, Tala finished putting all the salt down.

The ghost started disappearing and reappearing, a shrieking like noise being caused seemingly by the wind, as Pat Simon turned into a mere tornado of colors as he drizzled down into his coffin. Tala threw down a match onto the lighter fluid covered coffin, which soon burst into flames. His and Kai's face was shrouded by the dancing shadows caused by the fire, and waited for it to successfully burn the remnants of Pat Simon, before covering back up the grave.

**TBC...**

* * *

**A/N: **Aha, if anyone is a reader of TsukiharaKittie's stories, I'm sure you're surprised byt eh surprise entrance of Sonja, and I'm sure Sonja herself is... Well, please don't kill me Sonja! I would have asked permission to use you first but... I wanted to make it a surprise! So if you're angry at me, go ahead and rip my head off, but hey, I was going to kill Bryan! I decided to spare him though...

Anyways, I'm very sorry about the late update! I was on vacation and such and didn't have time to type any, and then I realized once I had the time, I hadn't thought of a way for Tala to tell Kai that they hunted ghosts, so it's kind of crappy... So once again, very sorry! I hope this chapter wasn't too bad!

**_- DaCow Takao_**


	4. Cute Kitty

_Hunting For Lies_

**_By; DaCow Takao_**

**_

* * *

_**

"blahblahblah"- Talking

_"blahblahblah"- _Dreaming/Thinking

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing.

**Thank You; TK, sky d, WalkingDeathWish, and SonjaV for reviewing!**

* * *

A small, blond girl, dressed in a tinker bell night gown had been tucked into bed long ago, and yet the six year old couldn't get to sleep. Finally crawling out of her bed, she decided to play with some of her toys. Opening up the doors to her closet, where all of her dolls, fake tea sets and such had been tucked away a couple hours back, she started going through her collection, the light of the moon shining through her window guiding her.

Finally finding the doll she wanted to play with most, she grabbed an extra dress from the dolls carrying case, and sat down on the carpeted floor to play with it. A few minutes passed silently, until the little girl looked up, a flash of light catching her eye. Now sitting in front of her was one of her other dolls, a surprisingly durable porcelain one she had gotten recently, with curly black locks, and an old fashioned dress on.

"Don't you want to play with me?"

The girl tilted her head to the side, she thought she saw the dolls mouth move, and thought she heard words come out of it, "Sorry Cindy, I'm playing with Lu-Lu, " She answered, acting as if it had just been her imagination telling her it was what the doll would have said if she was real.

"Why don't you want to play with me?"

The girl rubbed her eyes slightly, sleep beckoning to her. She stood up from her spot on the floor, getting back into her bed," Sorry Lu-Lu and Cindy, we'll have to play tomorrow…"

As she was settling in with her stuffed animals again, she felt a slight weight on the end of her bed. Looking up, she found her doll, Cindy, staring directly at her, this time her usual beautifully drawn eyebrows were arched, as if she were angry. Getting scared, the little girl moved to get out of bed to go into her parents room, but found her self unable to.

"Why won't you play with me?!"

This time the voice sounded much more demanding, and the little girl only managed to let out a small whimper, before Cindy seemed to launch herself at her, eyes glowing a bright green.

* * *

"Hello, how have you been today?" 

A bored expression sat on Kai's face, as he started scanning the items a woman standing on the other side of the counter wanted. So this was the brilliant job Tala had old him of? That lying bastard, he never warned him of the fact that he'd be a cashier at a supermarket… I guess it was better then a fast food place though... What was he talking about? He had had his whole future set, his pay was pretty good, and now this was what he was brought down to?

"God, if you even exist, you better have some extravagant plan ahead for me," Kai mumbled, scanning a thing of baby diapers.

"Excuse me?"

Kai looked up, remembering the customer. Now that he actually looked at her, he noticed she really wasn't that looking. She had about shoulder length ebony colored hair, her bangs hanging loosely over icy blue eyes, which were covered by barely noticeable lenses. She was dressed in brown dress pants that were slightly flared at the end. A long sleeved dressy white shirt with a brown vest over top, along with a pair of boots.

"Oh, nothing," Kai answered, shaking his head as he finished scanning the last item.

The woman glanced towards his name tag, and a light smile graced her lips," Well what a surprise, you're back from the city."

It was now Kai's turn to raise an eyebrow, "What?"

"Oh, c'mon Kai! You seriously don't remember me?" The woman asked, Kai still staring at her curiously," No? Then tell me, who gave me this?"

The black haired woman held up one of her hands, around her wrist was a very badly done friendship bracelet, Kai's eyes widened a bit," No way, it's you?"

"The one and only Clarissa, now if you wouldn't mind doing the whole reunion thing later, I've got to get to work," With that, the woman grabbed her bags and was off.

Kai stood in shock for a moment, before a thought hit him," Why was she buying diapers?"

* * *

The front door was shut, as a tired looking Tala dragged himself back into his house. To his knowledge, no one else was at home, for Kai didn't get off work for another half an hour, and their mom was off on a 'hunting' trip. As he collapsed on the couch, a faint noise of something being moved in the kitchen caught his attention. Getting up, he cautiously made his way to the said room, letting out a sigh of relief when he found one of the windows open, and a black, long haired cat sitting on the table in kitchen. 

"What're you doing in here, kitty? Don't you know, my mom's allergic to pets, but maybe you were sent by Kai so you could bother her… Anyways, you need to get out," With that, the redhead tried to shoo the cat out the window where it had come from, but its big round, yellow eyes kept staring up at him wearily.

Tala sighed, placing his hands on his hips," C'mon cat, what do you want from me? Food?"

The cat made a soft mewing sound at the mention of food, jumping off the table and prancing over in an ever cat like manner to the fridge. Tala shrugged, walking over and opening the kitchen appliance, pulling out some turkey he had panned to eat the next day. He put the turkey on the floor, and got a small bowl with some water in it, and hoped that after the cat was finished, it would leave.

As he watched the feline with growing interest, he let out a soft chuckle as it quickly ate all the turkey and drank all of the water," Well someone seems to have a big appetite!"

He was going to find something else for the cat to eat, before the front door was opened and his little brother walked in, a space out look on his face.

"How was your day at work?" Tala questioned, a faint smile tracing his face.

"Have you seen Clarissa lately?"

Tala blinked for a moment, looking thoughtful, before a smile lit up his face, "Yep!"

"Did she have any kids or anything?" Kai questioned, as he eyed the cat eating his future salami sandwich on the floor.

Tala raised an eyebrow," No, but she is watching one of her cousin's kids."

"Oh… What is that cat doing in our house?" Kai asked, as the cat cleaned its paws in an all knowingly way.

Tala was about to answer, before a knock at the door interrupted him. The two brothers hurried to open the door, and once they did they were greeted by their friend Clarissa, along with two twin nine year olds and a one year old baby. The three children all had black hair, but instead of icy blue eyes, they had bright brown ones.

"Hey you two, sorry to have to bring them over too, but I've got no choice," Clarissa explained, as she pushed her way into the house," Ok, Kai, you'll come with me into the kitchen, Tala, you watch the kids."

Tala's mouth gaped open for a moment, until the one year old was shoved into his arms, and his brother and friend went off into the kitchen," That's alright, I didn't want to talk to you either!"

The redhead let out an exasperated sigh, before turning to stare down at the twins," So, what are your names?"

The two twin girls smiled," Cat."

"Isn't that only one of your names?"

"Nope, we're both Cat."

"Ok… Is one of you like, Cat 1, and the other Cat 2?"

The two girls giggled, before sitting themselves on the couch and turning on the television. Tala blinked slightly, sitting down next to them on the couch. He scrunched up his nose as he looked down at the baby he was holding; this was going to be fun….

* * *

Clarissa smiled as her and Kai sat down at the table," So, how have you been?" 

Kai shrugged," Ok, I guess..."

"So, have you found 'that girl' yet?"

Kai paused. Memories of just a few weeks ago flashed through his mind, finding Hilary… No, he had managed to keep away from those thoughts for a couple of days now, he couldn't let it get to him, he couldn't… swallowing down the lump in his throat, Kai slowly shook his head yes. Clarissa stared at the kitchen window dreamily, imagining what kind of respectful woman her friend had fallen for.

"Is she beautiful?"

A light smiled graced Kai's lips, as a single tear slipped down his cheek, luckily unnoticed," She was the most beautiful woman I had ever met."

Clarissa was going to question the use of past tense, before a short, rather deep, shriek came from the living room. The two quickly forgot their conversation, jumping up to go see what happened. As they went to the source of the noise, they found the two twin girls pulling Tala's hair vigorously into pigtails, while the baby was placed to the side, sound asleep.

"What's going on?" Kai questioned, looking around skeptically.

Tala let out a painful whimper," Their pulling on my hair!"

Clarissa sighed," Catherine, Caitlyn, stop pulling on his hair and watch TV, we'll be leaving soon."

"Ok!" The two chorused, jumping off of the couch and sitting down onto the floor.

Tala rubbed his soar head, how could he let two children take advantage of him like that? "Stupid kids…" he mumbled, as he went to join Kai and Clarissa in the kitchen.

"Girls, you two watch your brother," Clarissa ordered, an eyebrow raised as if daring one of them to object.

When the two nodded, Clarissa turned back to Kai and Tala, pulling something out of the purse she had brought in with her. Placing the piece of paper she had retrieved on the table, the two brothers looked at it questioningly.

"What's this?" Kai asked, skimming through the newspaper article.

"Another job for you two," Clarissa answered simply.

Tala read the article to himself," Small Girl Killed in Bed; Natasha Benson, a six year old girl who went to Liberty Kindergarten, was found dead in her bed by her parents two nights ago. She was said to have been stabbed several times in her arms, legs, and face. Investigators and police have yet to find her killer, if you have any information contact the White Cloud police department at this number…."

Kai blinked," What do you mean next job…?"

Clarissa rolled her eyes," I did some research on her case. One of the listed items that was in the room was an old porcelain doll, which just so happened to belong to a woman's daughter who was said to have been some sort of 'sorcerer'. Since you two seem bored, and it was the most interesting thing I could find, I figured I'd let you know."

"Wait, Tal, she knows about us hunting?"

Tala smiled innocently," Um…yeah, it kind of slipped out a couple years back, and now she's started helping me with finding 'jobs'. I also told her a couple of days ago that you had started up also."

Kai rolled his eyes," Nice to see you let me in on all of the information…"

Tala didn't have time to say anything else, for one of the 'Cat's walked in, holding the baby, who was bawling his eyes out. Clarissa stood up out of her chair, taking the child from the girl.

"Well, we better get going. By the way, nice cat."

Tala sweat dropped slightly, before he and Kai lead their guests to the door and waved good bye as they left. Heaving a heavy sigh, the redhead went back to examine the newspaper article further, along with a piece of paper Clarissa had left with extra information, such as an address and such. Kai let out a small yawn, pulling his arms over his head to stretch them, before setting up his brother's Xbox. Their new resident cat lay soundly on the floor between the kitchen and the living room, watching both humans closely.

* * *

Tala sat in the passengers' side of his brother's Impala, leaned against the window with his eyes closed, mouth gaping open, snoring while a bit of drool threatened to fall. Kai snorted at the redhead's all-too-elegant form, preparing to wake him as soon as he pulled up to the motel they'd be staying in while they were at White Cloud. Gripping the steering wheel, he smirked at the thought of just leaving him in the car so he could freeze during the night… 

Parking outside of the 'check in' room of the motel, the bluenette got out, deciding to go with the latter plan. Grabbing the one bag he had brought with him, Kai got the keys to the room him and his brother would be staying in, and went to make himself at home as much as possible.

A few hours later he still was wide awake, lying in his bed, thinking about earlier that day.

"Hilary…"

Sitting up in the bed, he turned on the small television in front of it, deciding it would be best to just distract himself from his thoughts until he finally fell asleep.

* * *

Cold air stab lightly at the uncovered skin of his face, hands, and neck, as Tala slowly opened his eyes due to the discomfort. As his vision slowly became clearer, he realized he was still sitting in the seat of his younger brother's car, and let a small string of cuss words out under his breath as he imagined his brother's smirk expression he must have been wearing when he left him to freeze over night. About to go and just bust down the door to all of the motel rooms until he found the one Kai was staying in, Tala noticed a key and small note sitting on the dash board. Picking it up, he let a small smile form on his frozen lips. 

"Hope you had a nice sleep, compliments of your gracious brother and your lazy ass."

Crumpling up the piece of paper and throwing it into the back seat, he grabbed the key while he got out of the car. Finding their room, he made sure to enter as loudly as he could manage, which was pretty easy for someone skilled in the art of annoyance. Planning to maybe dump some cold water on his sleeping brother, he found as he entered the room that his brother was still awaking, watching the TV in a dazed sort of state.

"Kai, what are you still doing up?" Tala questioned, throwing his jacket onto one of the chairs next to the door.

It took a moment before the bluenette responded, looking over to the redhead with a shocked expression," When'd you get here?"

Tala raised an eye brow," I just walked in. By the way, thanks for waking me up."

"Right… Well, I'm sure you're tired still, so I'll turn off the TV…"

Tala watched his sibling with concern, he wasn't acting too Kai like. As Tala let out a yawn, he did have to admit that Kai was right, he was still tired. Very tired… Tala managed to fall asleep, start snoring and drooling, in record time. Kai glanced towards his brother, wishing he was able to get some shut eye as easily, but unfortunately rest just wouldn't come, and haunting visions kept on playing in his mind. Turning off the TV as he'd said, the bluenette let out a low sigh, before settling into his bed, knowing he had a long night ahead of him.

* * *

Waking up with a start, Tala looked around questionably, trying to find the source of his uneasiness. It took a Russian circus to wake the redhead up from slumber, and even then it wasn't even a for sure thing, but a feeling in the pit of his stomach was yelling at him to get up. Rubbing the sleep in his eye away, Tala scanned the room once more; everything was in its rightful place… Wait, Kai was gone! Jumping out of the bed, he hurried to get dresses, before scurrying off to try and find the newly aloof Kai. 

After looking around the motel area, and getting sidetracked when a young woman needed help getting her luggage into her room, Tala letting out a defeated sigh, making his way back to his own room. He was met at the door by the very person he had been looking for, Kai setting a coffee onto one of the tables in the room with one for himself in his hand.

"Yo little bro," Tala greeted, picking up the coffee," Did you get any sleep last night?"

Kai looked thoughtful for a moment, shrugging slightly," I got enough, anyways, you ready to go and check out this doll, or whatever it is…"

"Yep, just let me go pee real quick."

Kai rolled his eyes," You've never matured from the age of eight…"

Tala grinned childishly," That would be an insult to all of the eight year olds out there."

"True…"

* * *

Pulling up to a fairly new looking two story house, Kai parked the Impala, before he and his brother got out. Tala had warned Kai that he wasn't too sure when exactly the doll was 'active', so to say, so the two had guns tucked into the back of their pants, loaded with rock salt. Kai had learned over the passed couple of weeks about things to ward off, kill, or paralyze different types of ghosts, demons, and other 'supernatural' things. Rock salt was one thing that could paralyze any ghost or cursed object/person for a few seconds, thus giving Kai or Tala time enough to get away. 

"So, did you learn anything else about what was going on here?" Kai questioned, glancing up at his older brother.

"A bit… There might be a curse on the doll or something, because anywhere it goes, the people who own it die 'mysteriously'," Tala answered, checking to make sure no one was around.

The two had found that, after the death of their beloved and only daughter, the parents had left to be with family, to help them in their troubled time. So this was the best chance they'd get at seeing the doll, and hopefully finding some kind of 'clue, so to say, that could help them.

Finding the side door, which luckily was blocked off from view of the neighbors' houses by tall hedges, Tala started picking at the lock on the door. Once he opened it, him and Kai entered the house, shutting the door silently behind them. Tala wandered into the kitchen, claiming it was 'calling to him'. Kai rolled his eyes; before making his way up the stairs, and into the little girl's room that was off to the left. It was decorated highly in pink, with toys scattered everywhere. In the back of the room was the girl's bed, which was stained with blood, and had yellow tape around it.

Looking around, he spotted a doll laying limply on the floor, it's old fashioned dress splotched deep red in some area's, along with having some of it's porcelain white hand colored the same. There was an eerie look to the doll, so Kai figured it must be the one they were looking for. He approached the toy cautiously, watching to see if it did anything.

"Of course it's not going to do anything, it's a damn toy!" Kai scolded himself, letting out an exasperated sigh. He shut his eyes for a moment, before opening them again. The bluenette jumped back slightly, the doll was now sat up straight, its piercing eyes set on him, his own grey ones meeting with them. He felt as if it was trying to tell him something, as it started to move towards him. Before he could actually understand the words being whispered what seemed like all around the room, a loud bang filled the air, as the face of the doll shattered, and it stopped moving.

Tala reached out and grabbed the collar of Kai's jacket, pulling him back away from the doll, which would be able to move soon. Both had their guns drawn now, as the sound of a little girls' laughter echoed through the house, words mixing in," Bring me back to her!" The doll started to get up again, though Tala quickly shot it again, then he commenced with dragging Kai out of the house as quickly as he could manage, the laughter getting louder every moment.

"Shit, what was that?" Kai managed to splutter out, as he and Tala tried to look as calm as possible while getting back in the Impala.

Tala sweat dropped," To tell the truth, I didn't think it would actually be able to move and all right now… But hey, they had some pie left in their fridge, and that was good…"

"You ate their food?" Kai asked, not too surprised to hear it," Anyways, what was it that the doll was saying, 'bring me back to her'?"

"Their food was good! And yeah, it was something along that line…" Tala put in a tape while Kai drove away from the house, ignoring the side ways glare being sent his way.

"Well, I caught a quick glimpse of a name written on the bottom of the doll's shoe, it was 'Katherine G.', maybe that was its owner at one time?" Kai suggested, turning up the volume to the music Tala had put in.

Tala shrugged," We could try looking it up. I think the library is on the next street."

Nodding, Kai turned down the next street, and after driving for about half a minute before stopping in front of a large brick building, with a sign in the front that read," White Cloud's Public Library". Tala shuddered, he'd always hated coming to the library up until the day he found he had to do research on 'hunting' trips, and even then it was still just… boring…

"Hey Kai-man, you can handle a little trip into the library yourself, right?"

Kai raised an eyebrow," Yes…"

Tala smirked, stretching his feet out onto the dash board, before letting out a short yawn," Well, then you can go in this time while I take a nap…"

Kai's eyebrow twitched as he watched Tala's biker boots rub against the dashboard of his car," Get your shoes off of their and I might think about letting you sleep."

"No problem little bro," Tala answered, taking his feet down and smiling at his brother innocently.

"Whatever, just don't do anything stupid, and don't hurt my car…" Kai mumbled, grabbing a back pack out of the back of the car, before getting out and heading towards the library.

Slipping his boots off, Tala waited for Kai to be out of sight before placing his feet back up on the dashboard. Putting on a pair of sunglasses, he sat back in his seat, and was soon snoring away.

* * *

Kai walked out of the library, a couple of printed out pages in his hands. Reaching his car, he at once spotted Tala's oh-so-comfortable form, with his feet back up on the dashboard. Opening up the drivers' side door, Kai slammed down on the car's horn, the loud blaring noise causing Tala to jump up, hands in a karate-chopposition. 

"What the hell?"

Kai smirked, getting into the Impala and placing the papers he had with him in the backseat with his backpack," Have a nice nap?"

"Jerk..." Tala mumbled, repositioning himself as Kai started up the car," So, did you find anything?"

Kai rolled his eyes," Unlike you, I'm able to accomplish simple tasks, so yes, I did find something."

Tala rolled his eyes," Yeah, whatever…"

* * *

Kai and Tala were now walking through a leaf speckled cemetery, making their way towards a statue of an angel. Professionally carved into the stone of the angel was 'In Loving Memory of Katherine Gage. 1910-1920". The two stopped in front of it once they reached it, studying it grimly. 

"So, this is the original owner of that freak doll?" Tala questioned, glancing sideways at his younger brother.

Kai nodded solemnly," This is it. It said on the page I found, written by someone who knew the little girl, that she was one of the sweetest people she had ever met. When she died on her tenth birthday, from some kind of illness she was born with, the person said that everyone who knew the little girl's family helped them pay for this statue. They buried her with her favorite doll that she always carried around, which I presume is the one killing people now." He paused so that Tala could take in all of the information, before continuing," There's been no note of any grave's being robbed, but I think that's the case here. Someone who knew the girl probably stole it, thus making her spirit angry."

Tala looked thoughtful for a moment," So, you're saying that the spirit of Katherine is inside that doll, killing those other little girls?"

Kai shrugged," I guess…"

Tala let out a low sigh," I don't know, you are still a newbie at this… We'll have to see…"

"Oh please, you think my theory isn't possible?" Kai asked mockingly, letting out a short snort.

"Shut up. We need to go get the doll; hopefully putting it back in its grave will put it to rest…" Tala stated, turning to leave.

"Hopefully…" Kai muttered, following after his brother.

* * *

Outside of the house they had been at earlier that day, Tala was putting a mixture of slat and holy water in, and on, the box he planned on throwing the doll in once they got it. Kai watched from nearby, tapping his foot nervously as he kept watch for anyone. When the redhead was finally finished, he motioned for Kai to follow him inside the house, box in hand. Laughter started up as soon as they entered the home, at first barely audible, but as they moved further into the house, it grew louder. As they got to the foot of the stairs, light coming through a window allowed the two to see the silhouette of a small figure at the top. 

"Shit," Tala proceeded to pull out his gun, Kai quickly following suit.

As they started up the steps, the doll quickly disappeared down the hall, laughter never ceasing. This time both let out a string of curse words, continuing up the stairs and down the hall with caution. Kai went to check the little girl's room, while Tala went to check the other ones. Pushing open the door to the pink room slowly, heart beating as if he had been running a 50 mile race. When he saw no signs of the doll, he turned to leave. A sharp pain his left leg made him look down, only to meet with the glass eyes of the doll he was looking for, whose finger had just cut into him. Shooting down at it, the rock salt quickly took affect, and he grabbed up the object, rushing to find Tala.

"Tal, I got it! Hurry with the box!" Kai shouted, skidding to a stop outside the bathroom door, where Tala had just been gawking over himself in the mirror, box on the floor next to him.

Tala jumped into action, grabbing the box and opening it so that Kai could get the doll in. After some scolding words from his younger brother, Tala hurried out of the house and off to the Impala, Kai right behind him. Sticking the box in an open space in the backseat, Tala put some salt around it for some extra protection, as Kai drove off, heading towards the cemetery.

Once there, Kai made a point to leave the headlights to his car on, pointing them towards the plot of earth him and his brother were to dig up just in front of the angel statue. Grabbing the box the doll was in; Tala followed his brother into the grave yard, setting the box down next to Katherine Gage's grave. As they dug up the ground, the box nearby began to jump around, the doll trying to get out.

"You sure it can't get out?" Kai took a break from his digging, wiping sweat off of his forehead.

Tala shrugged," The holy water and salt should keep it in the box, but ya' never know."

"That's pleasant…" Kai muttered, as he started digging once more.

When the two finally finished, they threw the box into the grave, poured some lighter fluid over the contents in the hole, and dropped a match down. The temperature dropped rapidly, as the wind picked up. Remembering passed experiences, Kai started looking around for any signs of a ghost.

Suddenly he was in a scene with five little girls, who were all sitting around the angel statue having a picnic. One, who was pouring tea for the others, looked just like the girl from a picture Kai had found of Katherine, and another looked like Natasha Benson. In the middle of the picnic blanket they were all sitting on was a porcelain doll, staring blankly at them. The five turned to face Kai, smiles on their faces, before they all disappeared, and Kai was back in the dark graveyard, just this time he was staring at the ground, Tala's voice calling from the background.

"Kai? Kai-Man, you ok?!"

The bluenette slowly got up, putting a hand to his head, which was now throbbing," Yeah, I'm fine… Let's cover up the grave and get out of here…"

Tala stared at his brother with concern, but nodded and did as suggested.

* * *

**A/N: **I had typed one of these up already, and then it ended up deleteing itself... -.-

Anyways, sorry this chapter is really crappy and that it took me forever to update! The OC in this chapter, who shall be appearing in more also, is based off of a friend, so I she really isn't owned by me... -hintTKhint- Sorry to anyone who preffered having a non-OC story, but I decided the boys needed an extra brain, since they're not always the brightest, and I wanted it to be someone not from the show. (I plan on killing off most fo them, so I can't have them as a friend of Kai and Tala's, now can I? xD;;)

Well, I hope you enjoyed the crap I wrote!

**_- DaCow Takao_**


	5. Just A Little Girl

_Hunting For Lies_

**_By; DaCow Takao_**

**_

* * *

_**

"blahblahblah"- Talking

_"blahblahblah"- _Dreaming/Thinking

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing.

**Thank You; TK, sky d, hil2378, WalkingDeathWish, and jellybean-kitty for reviewing!**

* * *

Discarding his jacket, Kai started making his way from where he was at at the front door, through the living room and into the kitchen. The house was oddly dark, with the few lamps they had around blinking on and off. Spotting the silhouette of someone sitting in a chair at the table in the kitchen, the bluenette raised an eyebrow. He knew his brother to be lazy, but the redhead wasn't one to just let lights go off and on without at least smashing them into pieces so they'd stop. 

"Tal?"

Walking further into the tiled room he froze. Sitting at the table wasn't Tala, but a person dressed completely in black, a gun on the table in front of them. Kai couldn't see the face of whatever was at the table, but something told him it wasn't a person, let alone something that belonged on earth.

Taking a small step back, Kai took a deep breath, trying to find words," Who- what are you?"

As the thing started to turn around to look at him, the room suddenly seemed to grow to a boiling temperature. It's face was shrouded with shadows, but once Kai caught the glint of light reflecting off of a golden eye, and one sharp canine tooth, flashes of Hilary's body when he found her in her tub started to reappear in his mind, along with one of a man hanging limply on a wall, blood dripping off of his body and onto the floor.

"Remember me?"

"N-no!" Kai stuttered, trying to back away as it got up from its seat.

…..

"No!"

After the shout had escaped from his lips, Kai bolted up right, looking around to see he was only in his room. His hair was damp with sweat, and his breath was coming rapidly, making a loud raspy sound as he clutched at the blanket that had been pulled over him. Glancing towards his clock, he sighed as he found it was only 2:00 in the morning.

"At least I got four hours of sleep…" he muttered to himself, pulling off his covers as he got out of his bed, quietly tiptoeing to the living room.

* * *

Tala wasn't surprised when he got out of bed at 1:00 p.m. to find his brother already up, though the fact that he had 'The Batman' on was… different, so to say. "Dude, Kai-man, I never knew you still watched cartoons on Saturday mornings." 

The said bluenette rolled his eyes," Shut up ass hole, I was bored…"

"Looks like someone didn't get any sleep again," Tala muttered, stumbling sleepily into the kitchen to get cereal.

Kai let out a low growl, not wanting to be reminded of his current situation of insomnia, he changed the subject," This new batman is a bitch."

"So are you," Tala said, smirking as Kai flipped him the birdie. His face became serious a moment later," But really, you haven't been getting any sleep. I guess this means I'll have to start drugging you…"

"You'd need a freakin' body builder to hold me down before you did that," Kai threw back, mood not lightening.

The redhead let out a few chuckles," Sorry for speaking master…"

"You should be bitch."

Tala would occasionally make a comment about something on the TV screen, but other then that, the two remained in silence. They sat on the couch for about another hour, until they were disturbed by the door bell being rang. Both were still in just shirts and boxers with bed tousled hair, but none-the-less, Tala went to answer the door.

"You don't even bother to get pants on to answer the door?" Clarissa scoffed, pushing her way into the house.

Tala grinned, shutting the door and following Clarissa into the now empty living room, as Kai had actually gone to get clothes on," Nope. But hey, at least it was just you and not some hot movie star or model."

The ebony haired woman rolled her eyes, "Look, I don't want to hear about your fantasy man."

It took a couple of seconds before Clarissa's words finally clicked in Tala's mind," Hey, I was talking about chicks!"

Clarissa grinned innocently," Of course you were."

"Wait, but you… Oh, I get it!" Clapping his hands together, Tala then proceeded to laugh as loudly as he could manage without running out of oxygen for about five minutes.

Clarissa rolled her eyes once more," Idiot…"

Kai entered the room, looking at the two occupants curiously. Tala and Clarissa were now bickering with one another, and stopped only briefly to acknowledge his presence. Letting out a low sigh, he continued walking through the room, and only paused momentarily to grab his jacket. Shivering slightly as the cold wind of a grey August day hit him, Kai tucked his hands into his jacket's pocket as he shut the door behind him.

Along with needing to think about his recent lack of sleep, Kai's mind was also straying to a few other things. Like, why had he seen those little girls having a picnic on the last job? Why was he having continuous dreams about some demon like thing? And why hadn't his mom even bothered to call home even once in the last three weeks she'd been gone? The latter didn't really bother him that much, but they were all still troubling, and staying in a house with his brother and friend all day wouldn't help him sort them out.

Kai had walked down the dirt trail that led away from his present home, and was now alongside the road that would bring him into the small town of Lawrence, that was placed about two miles away. The scenery was mostly that of trees, aside from the occasional farmer's field, the only thing really sticking out was an old church that most people from around the area went to. Well, only the more traditionally, or people who had been around longer, still went to it, while younger folks had moved on to going into the town for church.

The said church was surprisingly well kept, with pearly white walls that ascended upward until it was just reduced to a small tower that used to be used to ring its bells every hour. Next to the church was a small building where the priests lived, and in front of that was un-grassed earth used for a parking lot. A couple of cars were present, but other then that the place was deserted.

The bluenette stared a moment longer, before he turned to start on his way again. He jumped with surprise as he found, standing right beside him, a little girl. She had long, flowing ebony colored hair, and bright blue eyes, an angelic aura surrounding her.

"Hello sir! Are you coming to mass?" She asked, smiling up at Kai.

Kai shook his head," Not today. Actually, I never knew they had services on Saturday evenings…"

The little girl giggled before responding," You sure are silly, mister. Well, see ya'!"

With that, the little girl started running across the road separating her and Kai from the church. Just as she had reached the middle of the asphalt path, a car went speeding by, straight into the little girl. Kai stood frozen to the spot, not believing what had just happened. As he looked to the place the little girl had just been, he cocked his head to the side, as all he saw was a lone white feather.

"Maybe she got across?"

Looking both ways, Kai stepped onto the road, picking up the feather. Studying it, he could find nothing unusual about it, so he just stuck it in one of his pockets. Glancing around, he found the area deserted once more. He soon caught sight of the little girl sitting on top of the church, how she managed to get up there amazed Kai.

"What are you doing up there?" Kai half asked, half demanded, as he ran up to the side of the building, as if ready to catch her if she fell.

The child giggled again," You're funny!"

She stood up, and started to walk to the opposite side of the church Kai was on. When she disappeared again shortly after, Kai went to investigate the other side, afraid she had fallen. He let out an exhausted sigh, as he found nothing.

"Come back tomorrow morning for mass!"

Kai looked around vigorously to find where the voice was coming from this time, trying to see if he could spot the girl. Throwing up his hands in defeat, the bluenette decided to just head back home, having had enough of the outside world. It didn't seem he could think out here anyways…

"I hope she's ok… Ah, what do I care?!" Kai shook his head, trying to stop the fight his thoughts were having, but to no prevail," I could always come back tomorrow morning and check… But that would mean coming to church, and I'd never hear the end of it from Tala and Mom if I went…" The thought of defying his mother made a small smirk cross his features," Maybe I could just come, this once…"

It was sad that he still found pleasure in being the defiant child, but now that he was back at his old house, and back with his family, his old childish antics were flooding into him. Shaking his head, Kai slowly found himself becoming depressed once more, as he wandered back down the road that led him 'home'.

* * *

"You can do as much brushing as you want, but you'll never tame it!" 

Kai was greeted with the sight of his brother, now fully dressed, with Clarissa tugging at his wild red hair with a brush. Tala was wearing a victorious smile, which would falter at moments Clarissa would pull his hair especially hard, while the latter was completely focused on her task.

"Oh hey Kai-man, I didn't notice you left," the redhead commented, as he watched his brother enter the room.

Dropping onto the couch non-too-gracefully, Kai let out a small huff," I never knew 'Rissa was your personal hair stylist."

"Kai, have you seen his hair lately?" Clarissa questioned, only getting a shrug in response," You men are so helpless…"

"Do you still go to the old church?"

Clarissa blinked for a second, curious blue eyes landing on the bluenette," Yeah… Why?"

"I think I'll come with you to mass tomorrow…"

Clarissa was about to investigate further, but was interrupted as Tala burst out in laughter. Holding onto his now aching stomach, the redhead wiped away a tear that had managed to fall;" You're not serious, are you?"

Kai raised an eyebrow," Why wouldn't I be? Just because you and mom don't have faith, doesn't mean I shouldn't-"

"There's no reason to have faith!" Tala spat out, the atmosphere in the room quickly changing as both brothers stood to face each other," God is just a blind hope, someone created by a person ages ago so that he could make money off of the people who went to church."

Kai, who had been surprised by his brother's reaction, let a small smirk come onto his face," Tal, that's not even you speaking! You only repeat what you've heard from Grace, you're like her little mind slave! " Tala's eyes narrowed into mere slits as Kai continued on," What, is she your form of God? If mommy told you to go steal from someone, you'd do it, wouldn't you?" The bluenette shook his head sorrowfully," You're pathetic, you know that?"

Having heard enough, Tala's fist connected with Kai's jaw, after which Kai kneed him in the stomach. The two would have continued exchanging blows, if it weren't for Clarissa who had stepped in front of them, ebony bangs covering the anger in her eyes.

"Stop it you two, you're acting like children! I knew you two had differences, but instead of just respecting each other, this is how you solve it?" Kai and Tala hung their heads in shame, full realization of what they had just been doing coming to mind." I suggest you start settling matters in a more mature way, before you hurt someone."

Clarissa stepped away from the two, grabbing her coat she had brought over with her and heading for the door," Mass starts at 9:00 tomorrow, I'll come to pick you up. Good bye."

The two cringed as the front door was slammed shut behind their friend, a low whistle being heard from Tala's direction. Kai sat himself back down on the couch, muttering a few words about Tala being 'like a child anyways',

Tala let out a low sigh, turning to face his little brother," Kai-"

"Yeah, me too…" the bluenette finished, looking up at Tala with a boyish grin.

The redhead stuck a hand on his hip, waving the pointer finger on his other hand in the air as he spoke in a mocking voice," Stop being so childish! Can't you be more mature?"

Kai, who had been in the middle of taking off his shoes, aimed one of them at his brother," She was right, you know."

Dodging the object easily, the redhead nodded," I know, I know… She can be such a mother hen though."

"Speaking of mother hens, has Grace called you?" Kai questioned, trying not to sound too interested in the subject.

Tala's mouth started moving, but no words seemed to be coming out, instead a soft sound of maybe a harp being played filled Kai's ears. The room he had just been sitting in disappeared, a big nothingness of white taking its place, where the little girl he had seen earlier sat. She was dressed in all white this time, with beautiful long wings spread out around her. The moment she went to stand up though, everything started to turn black. A twisted face replaced that of the young child's, as it hissed a few words into the bluenette's ear, before seemingly flying off.

"Save me."

"Who are you?"

Tala raised an eyebrow, as his brother shut his eyes, starting to sway back and forth somewhat," Kai? Hey, Kai-Man, you listening to me?"

As the smaller started falling forwards, Tala jumped to catch him, grabbing Kai's collar just as he was about to hit the floor. Setting him back on the couch, the redhead checked to make sure his brother was breathing, moving to lay Kai's legs out all the way so he was lying on the couch comfortably. Propping a pillow underneath his head, Tala turned to go into the kitchen, picking up his cell phone.

Dialing in a number, he waited a few moments before getting an answering machine. Rubbing his temples, he waited for the tone before speaking," Hey mom, it's me. Kai's been acting really weird lately, and I'm not sure if it's just some kind of cold or something… Anyways, I'm in need of your oh-so-great mothering skills, so you need to at least call back soon! I think even Kai's missing ya'."

Hanging up the phone, he threw it onto the table with distaste. Glaring down at the new furry house resident that was staring up at him intently," Got a problem with your eyes?"

* * *

After leaving a message with his mom, Tala had gone to do one of the things he was best at, wasting the rest of the day away. By the time 10:00 p.m. came rolling around, the redhead shot a weary glance in the direction of the couch, where his brother still lay, mumbling incoherent words every now and again. Heaving himself off the floor, where he had made himself comfortable while watching a movie, Tala trotted off to the pantry, in hopes of finding some medicine to give his brother when he woke up. Walking into the small, compact room, icy blue eyes searched the shelves for any signs of medicine, stopping when they landed on a box of Girl Scout cookies that had managed to survive through his large appetite since earlier that year. 

"I'm sure Kai will be able to find his own medicine when he wakes up..." He reassured himself, grabbing the box of cookies.

He was about to turn and leave, when something poking out from underneath the bottom of one of the shelves caught the corner of his eye. Taking a few steps back, he bent down to examine whatever it was closer, pulling it out when he noticed it was a book. Straightening himself back up, he shifted the box of cookies he was holding so that he could open the book and look through it, as he started off towards the living room again.

Tala seated himself on the floor once more, and was about to get a good look at the first page, when the sound of someone behind him moving stirred him from the object. Turning slightly, he smirked at the sight of his little brother, whose slate blue locks nearly covered his eyes completely.

"'Bout time you got up, sleeping beauty."

Groggily sitting up, Kai tried to rub the sleep away from his eyes, along with his ever present head ache," How long have I been sleeping?"

"Um… since Clarissa left, so…" Tala started counting the hours on his fingers," About… seven hours."

Letting out a low moan, he dropped himself back down onto the couch," Do we have any Tylenol..?"

Tala looked thoughtful for a moment," I think we do… You're going to have to go find it yourself though!" And with that, the redhead darted off towards his room, just missing the pillow thrown at him.

Kai dragged himself off of the couch once more, picking up the cat that had just been sitting near an empty box of cookies. While petting the animal, he looked around for any form of painkillers. Hopefully they would help him sleep along with take care of his headache; it would be so nice to actually get some peaceful sleep, unlike the seven hours of… Whatever it was he just had to go through. The cat meowed up at him, jumping out of his arms to paw at the refrigerator.

"Cat, I'm not going to feed you right now…"

* * *

"Wake up wittle Kai-e!" 

Kai slowly opened his eyes as someone practically screamed into his ear. He sucked in a quick breath of shock as he found Clarissa's face just millimeters away from his own," shit, what're you trying to do, kill me?!"

The ebony haired woman shrugged, backing away some," Something like that. Anyways, hurry up and get dressed, church starts in half an hour."

"Half an hour? Why didn't you wake me up sooner," Kai mumbled, going over to his closet and throwing on his old work clothes, they looked dressy enough.

"I figured I'd let you sleep in a bit, now hurry before your food gets cold!"

"You cooked me food? Wow, do I need to pay you or something…" Kai grinned cheekily, before a firm hand connected with the top of his head," Yeah, I deserved that…"

Clarissa smirked triumphantly, but stopped as a wave of uneasiness passed over her. Shaking away the feeling, she walked out of the room to let Kai finish getting ready, off to the room just down the hall. Snoring could be heard even outside of the shut door, but Clarissa was determined to wake up the inhabitant of the room. Cautiously stepping inside, she glanced around in disgust as she found the room to be covered in...everything. Anything owned by the redhead sprawled out in the bundle of blankets on the bed at the side of the room was on the floor, including various weapons.

"Tala, get your lazy ass up!"

When the pile of red didn't move, Clarissa looked around for something that might aid her. Unfortunately, the only weapons Tala actually left out were things like sling shots, his knives and guns stored in his closet, which was locked shut. Smirking as she discovered a cap gun poking out from behind his dresser next to an empty bag of chips, she went to retrieve it.

Crystal blue eyes shot open, as the sound of what seemed to be a gun going off rang through out his room. Looking around bewilderedly, he was quick to grab the cap gun away from his friend.

"The hell?!"

Clarissa smiled brightly, knowing it would tick off the redhead even more," Mornin' Sunshine!"

Tala let out a small whimper, still wanting to sleep. One look at the clock and he felt even more like just falling back asleep, but instead settled with yelling at Clarissa's retreating back," This is sleep deprivation!"

"Save your words for somebody who cares!" The ebony haired woman yelled back over her shoulder as she entered into the kitchen," How does he even manage to get up for work…"

"His shift starts at eleven, that's how."

Clarissa sighed, not too surprised by the fact. Sitting on a counter was Kai, who had his hair neatly done into its own little organized mess, with a bowl of cereal in hand. Clarissa mumbled something about 'figuring so' as Kai finished his breakfast, and the two got ready to walk out the door. Just as they were, Tala stumbled out, dressed in the nicest clothes he could find, and with his hair brushed.

"What the hell are you doing up? And you're dressed too…"

Tala rolled his eyes at Kai," I've decided I'm going to come also. I've got to make sure they're not going to dump garbage into my little brother's head."

Kai raised an eyebrow, wondering if his brother actually got the concept of church," Right…"

Icy blue eyes darted between the two, the silence that had settled in finally being broken" Awkward… Anyways, let's get going, I don't want to be late because of you two idiots."

Tala and Kai had sat with Clarissa through the mass, luckily sitting in the back so they weren't too uncomfortable. Other then the fact that the old lady in front of them kept on coughing, and even once her dentures fell out, the mass went on without problems or anything out of the ordinary, which was odd considering their luck. Kai watched curiously as Clarissa bought a flower from the churches small store after the mass was over, and lead them outside and out to a small cemetery behind the church.

Graves were set in different places through out a small clearing, shaded by tall pine trees that were planted around the cemetery like a barrier. The three walked to the back of the area, where an unmarked gravestone sat, a wilting flower placed on its surface already.

"What's this?" Kai questioned, observing the grave.

An eerie silence had settled over the three. Kai looked around, trying to find the slightest hint to why his brother and friend looked so... depressed, almost. He knew Clarissa to get a bit moody, and Tala sometimes had his moments, but they didn't usually look this sad, at least not without a good reason.

As Clarissa set the flower she had been holding onto the ground in front of the gravestone, and took away the old one, she looked up at Kai with sorrow in her eyes," Remember my little sister?"

He took a small gulp before answering, not liking where this conversation was going, "Of course, I used to help her with making those flower chain... things…"

Clarissa was trying to fight back tears, it was one of the first times she had actually had to explain what had happened, since everyone she had known was there when it had happened. About to open her mouth to try and speak once more, Tala stepped in front of her to answer.

"She drowned the summer you left. I had tried to call and tell you…"

"Oh…"

Kai gave the two a pitiful look, but they had already turned back to the unmarked grave. (Tala would later explain Clarissa's mother would not allow them to put a name on the grave because of some ancient belief.) The redhead placed his hands comfortingly on Clarissa's shoulders, as she leaned slightly back against him. Feeling out of place watching the two, Kai turned to leave. He had his hands stuffed in his pockets; shoulders slumped, and head hanging low, watching the grass underneath his feet pass by as he walked.

High pitched laughter diverted his attention back to the grave his brother and friend were standing over. Everything around him seemed to have paused, and as he went back to see where the laughter had come from, he found his brother's mouth frozen in mid-speech.

"Oh no, not this again…"

All of this was getting to be too much, it hadn't even started gradually. Ever since the first time, these vision things just kept and kept on happening… He studied the stone marker of the bare grave; something must be up with it. As he started to walk around to the back of it, he found an odd symbol painted in black ink on it, along with some odd objects on the ground next to it. Tala had recently been teaching him about curses, and certain rituals performed by different cultures.

Bending down to look at the symbol closer, he vaguely recognized it as a sign used in ancient Scandinavian culture to try and bring back the dead. The herbs and old bones on the ground were also a part of the ritual.

"Aw shit, don't tell me- Wait, that little girl I saw here, and who was in my dream, she looked just like Clarissa's little sister now that I think of it… Maybe this ritual thing has side effects, and instead of bringing her back to life, it's changing her into a monster, or whatever I saw…"

His thoughts stopped, as he was shifted back to where he had been walking away before he heard the laughter. He stood still for a moment, trying to gather himself and figure out what had just happened. Kai nearly jumped as a hand was placed on his shoulder suddenly.

"Whoa, Kai, it's just me!" Tala stated, as Kai looked back at him, panic stricken.

"You idiot, don't do that to me!"

A smile made the ends of Tala's lips curve upwards a bit," You should have seen your face, you look like you were about to wet yourself or something."

Him and Clarissa must have already gotten over their moment, for they both started laughing at Kai's embarrassed face. The bluenette decided not to bring up the subject of Clarissa's little sister's grave, but did give the said object a weary glance as he was pushed towards Clarissa's car that they had driven in.

* * *

**A/N: **First, I know it's taken me FOREVER to update, but various obsticales came up and such.. -.-;; Sorry for that, and for how fast everything is moving. I guess I'm trying to finish this up since there's another story I want to start, but I'll try and stop rushing things! -bows repeatedly- 

I'm going to need some extra reassurance on this chapter though, because I'm feeling kind of down about it...

I'll try and update soon! (If anyone cares... -doubts anyone wants to read this anymore-)

**_- DaCow Takao_**


	6. Just Jasmine Tea

_Hunting For Lies_

**_By; DaCow Takao_**

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* * *

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"blahblahblah"- Talking

_"blahblahblah"- _Dreaming/Thinking

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing.

**Thank You; TK, sky d, hil2378, SonjaV, and jellybean-kitty for reviewing!**

* * *

Tala watched with slight interest, as his younger brother paced back and forth in front of him. It was actually rather amusing to see the bluenette try and figure something out; ever since they were children the easiest way for him to think was to pace back and forth while biting on his nails. He thought by now Kai would have grown out of the habit, but obviously he hadn't.

"But if her sister died after I left, then that was at least ten years ago… Why would someone try to bring her back now? Or has the symbol been there all this time, and it just didn't work? But that would mean all of the plants would have either decayed or been eaten by some sort of animal…"

The redhead let out a short snort. It had only been an hour since Clarissa had dropped them back off at their house. It didn't take Kai too long to explain the current situation, and after a few reassuring words from his older brother that 'the symbol and other said objects were used in an old Swedish ritual to bring back the dead, and it was possible someone was trying to bring back Clarissa's little sister from the grave', Kai was already trying to figure out everything.

"What are you snorting at?" Kai snapped, pupils slitting dangerously to glare at his brother.

Tala shrugged," Well, there is a bit more to the ritual, but…. If you don't want my help-"

"Tal, that's not funny!" The redhead didn't look like he'd talk until some groveling was done," Fine then, I guess I'll just have to confiscate all of the candy and other sweets you have hidden in your room-"

"Hey, how'd you know about that!"

Kai shrugged," You willing to talk now?"

Tala, still trying to figure out how is little brother could have possible found his secret stash of goodies without him knowing, nodded slowly," Some of the 'ingredients' needed can take years to find. And after you've gotten all of the stuff necessary, it takes about four years for the ritual to actually work, or so says the books."

Kai put a hand on his chin thoughtfully, before moving it up a bit so he could chew on his nails once more," That would explain that… But who would be trying to bring her back? It wouldn't be Clarissa, would it?"

"Of course not, she's been doing work with me for some time now, and she knows the cost of doing something like that," Tala quickly brushed off the possibility of their friend being a suspect, changing the subject back on to what they were on before," So really, how were you able to find my secret stash?"

Kai rolled his eyes," Can you at least try to stay focused for once? Now, which books have the most information on the ritual we're dealing with?"

The redhead crossed his arms, not over his candy being found yet, before pointing adjectively at the book he had found the night before," That one has some pretty good information on it, though it's all a mixture of superstitions and actual known facts."

Kai picked up the old book, it's worn leather bindings bearing no title. He skimmed through some of the pages and turned the book around in his hands," You've never shown me this one before?"

"Nah, I found it last night. Probably one mom threw together herself and didn't want us to look at for some reason."

Kai raised one of his eyebrows," You sure you can go against mommy and read this without asking permission?"

Tala threw his head back in laughter, only to look back at his brother, dead pan," Funny. For once can you just appreciate that I've provided you with a book to do research with?"

"Gosh Tal, I never knew you were so touchy," Kai's voice dripped with sarcasm, rolling his eyes at his brother once more," Anyways, you're probably tired from getting up so early, so you can go sleep. I'm going to read into this more."

"I am kind of tired," Tala managed to say, before being interrupted by a loud yawn," Yeah, I'm going to bed…"

Kai shook his head, lightly chuckling as Tala stumbled into his room and collapsed on his bed, his snoring starting right away. Wanting to get the research done as soon as possible, Kai grabbed a bag of chips and went to make himself comfortable on the couch, book in hand.

--

Tala woke back up some hours later, and pranced out to the living room with new found energy. He stretched his arms, along with doing some weird eye exercises that consisted of looking up and down, side ways and back, and anything else he believed made his eyes stronger. Finally, he seated himself down next to Kai, who had his reading glasses on with a chip loosely hanging out of his mouth as he scrawled something down in a notebook.

"What'cha doin'?"

Kai turned to look at Tala, with his 'how am I related to such an idiot' expression," I'm reading Tal, so I can become more familiar with what we're dealing with."

"Wow Kai-Man, you sure are prepared," The redhead rolled his eyes, sarcasm hidden in his words.

"Whatever, you want to go interview some people?" Kai questioned, putting his glasses away along with the various books and notebooks he had out.

Tala stood up, a wide grin on his face," Now that's more like it! I'll go start up the car-"

"Oh no you won't, you're not touching my car!"

Kai's attempt at stopping his older brother proved to be futile, as Tala had already grabbed Kai's keys and ran out the door, the roar of the Impala's engine soon being heard.

* * *

"Ok, we're almost at Clarissa's mother's house."

Tala grumbled something from where he was in the back seat of Kai's car, as his brother spoke with an abnormal chipper to his voice.

"Aw, don't be like that Tal, just because you got over-powered by your baby brother," Kai chuckled. If their interviews turned out to be a bust, at least he would have the pure satisfaction of moving Tala out of the front seat and into the back one, and afterwards still being completely intact with no body parts missing.

"Says you," Tala retorted, crossing his arms stubbornly over his chest like a pouting toddler.

"Is someone upset?" Kai mocked, watching his brother's reaction through his rear-view mirror. As he pulled up beside a small brick house, his playful mood disappeared, being replaced by his serious 'all business' one," Ok Tal, you already know what we're going to ask?"

The red head nodded grudgingly, still irritated," Yeah. I still think we should have gone with my plan though…"

"Your plan was childish and stupid, now get of the car and put on a smile."

"Yes mother…"

---

The two held confident smirks as they exited from Clarissa's mother's house. The 'interview' had gone by quickly, and along with getting some of the pie Mrs. Matthew's had just freshly made, they also found who was trying to bring Clarissa's little sister back. Over all it was a big success that even surprised Tala, who had never had a supernatural case go so well in his entire 'career'.

"Since we now know Clarissa's mom is the one, do you have any ideas on what to do next?" Tala questioned, shutting the passengers' side door to the Impala as he got in, his tone having changed drastically from when he had gotten out of the car.

Kai started up the car, glancing over at his brother," You're sounding awfully cheerful, I'm going to need to remember to give you some pie the next time you're throwing a sissy fit.

"It was no sissy fit!" Tala argued, tempted to just whack Kai over the head, which he would have if the bluenette weren't driving.

"Whatever you say. Anyways, I thought since you've been working these jobs longer then I have, you're suppose to decide what to do?"

Tala shrugged," I thought since you're the smart you might have a plan by now, that's all."

Kai's smirk reappeared," Was that a compliment?"

"Cheh, you wish," Tala snorted, leaning back in his seat further, his trade mark smile making its appearance.

"Hn. Well, earlier today while you were being the lazy big you are and sleeping and I was researching, I found a way to fully put Clarissa's little sister to rest and to stop the ritual. We only need to pick up one thing for it too."

Tala shut his eyes, intent on taking a short nap on their ride home," What would that be, Kai-Man?"

"Crushed Jasmine tea leaves," Kai informed, when no response or comment came he turned slightly to examine his brother, whose mouth was open slightly with drool already starting to drip down his chin," Tal? Hey, you listening to me?! Fine, go ahead and sleep, but you'll be spending the night in the car again."

* * *

**A/N: **'K, I know this is really short and really had no point, but it was kind of just a conclusion chapter to the last one. It wasn't the best I've written either... But a whole bunch of story idea's have been coming to me, so it's hard to focus on this one. The drama and action should be starting up next chapter, and that one will be longer too. So please don't abandon me because I suck at updating and making my chapters long. -.-;;

I'll try to write as much as I can in the next week, but I'm going to be going on a lot of different trips in the next two months, so my updating might go even slower then usual. (Oh no, that must mean I'll never update. xD;;)

Thanks for not killing me!

**_- DaCow Takao_**


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